Some of you are not old enough to remember the TV show called “The Waltons” about a family making do through the Great Depression, but I grew up a big fan of the show's early seasons, and I’ve long admired it’s creator, Earl Hamner Jr., whose voice narrated each episode (through the written journals of “John Boy," played by Richard Thomas).
In many ways, the show reminded me and my siblings of our own family “making do” through hard times as we built our home deep in some wooded acres in “the thumb” of Michigan. This was especially true for my mother who had grown up living in a three-generation household with her grandparents.
When I went off to college in 1974, this reading was on the Walton’s Christmas album. The words of Grandpa’s Christmas Wish came to me as I shot this video footage on the last day of school before Christmas Vacation. Heavy lake-effect snow decorated the outside while classes reveled inside. It was a beautiful day!
The full reading by Will Geer can be found at this link:
I
still remember arriving at Calvary Christian Schools in July of 2000. My wife and I
had served at a very similar ACSI school in Iowa for 18 years when I
accepted this position. These 23 years have been a blessing, and
they’ve gone by so fast that I sometimes forget that many of our
new families may not know the amazing story of Calvary Christian
Schools.
I firmly believe that knowing our story will bring joy to our giving this Christmas because it is an incredible gift to be a part of Calvary.
Ours is an incredible story. For instance...
Did
you know that, for our first 20 years, CCS was located right next
door to the old
The original CCS building on Clinton Street in Muskegon
Hackley Hospital in Muskegon (now the site of the
new Middle School)? The CCS Fruitport campus was completed in1999.
This building was one of the largest new construction projects in
the county. (The Lakes Mall came a couple years later along with
restaurants, banks, businesses. Soon after our move to Kendra Road,
more than 500 new residential addresses came to our neighborhood.
1998-99 Yearbook cover..
Did
you know that the original investment in the land purchase, clearing
/ excavation, sewer/water/utilities, construction and landscaping
was a nine million dollar commitment taken on by the
former host church? A school our size could never have made such an
investment. In the years to follow, the largest church in Muskegon
County met in our gymnasium (three services each Sunday for many
years). During those same ten years, that congregation paid down the
original mortgage balance to 3.5 million dollars. That’s amazing,
and had it not happened, CCS would not exist as we know it today.
Did
you know that in 2012, CCS became a Michigan non-profit and
independent 501(c)(3) governed by a board rather than a host church? That same year, Calvary Church relocated, and the school was temporarily displaced. Then in August the mortgage-holding bank allowed CCS to return and occupy the building for one year while the bank attempted to sell it.
Did
you know that, upon moving back into this building, the school budget
took on full responsibility of all utilities, inspections,
maintenance, and mortgage payments. This was more than $250,000
above tuition income and any previous budget. We sometimes refer to that year as a “loaves
and fishes” miracle because of how God provided through donors. (Our 501(c)(3) status means all donor gifts are tax deductible.)
Did
you know that the bank was so impressed with our ability to meet our
obligations while taking great care of their asset that they renewed
the lease for the 2013-2014 school year. It was announced at
Commencement, and many people wept for joy.
Did
you know that in 2014, after two years as renters, the bank
graciously applied every dollar we had paid them (including all
other building-related expenses ) to a negotiated purchase price
that was below half of the building’s appraised value. Ever since,
we have "owned" this building (with the help of a mortgage).
Did
you know that since 2012, the mortgage obligation has been paid down
a million dollars? Even so, our monthly payment on the
2.24M balance is over $15,000. While that is an
enormous commitment, our loan history is excellent and our
debt-to-equity ratio (D/E) is about .33.
Did
you know that when we add in the cost of heating, cooling,
maintenance, inspections, trash removal, snow removal, insurance,
etc. to our mortgage payment, all building-related costs come to
over $324,000 / year. This does not include any salaries.
Did
you know that within a few years of 2012, God began using three
things to help lower the formidable costs of running an independent
faith-based school: First and foremost, a growing group of CCS
donors who want the mission of CCS to continue; second, a lease with
a wonderful local church that uses some office space and the
building on weekends; and third, our teachers who are qualified and
certified with servant’s hearts (some of whom are also contracted
in a share-time program that substantially assists that portion of
the CCS budget.
Did
you know that while also absorbing the overhead costs of this fine campus and
facility, CCS has also provided more and more families with
need-based financial assistance?. This ensures that CCS never
becomes a school only for those who can fully afford private
education. This assistance helps dozens of families who could
otherwise not share this wonderful journey with us. Providing this
help is a scriptural principle responsibly applied.
Did
you know that the need-based assistance CCS offers is unfunded?
Some people think that because FACTS processes the applications that the actual dollars awarded to
qualifying applicants are provided by FACTS or some other source. No.
There is always a strong correlation between each year’s GAP fund
(annual appeal for needed donor gifts) and the amount of need-based aid
awarded. CCS donors share the value of keeping CCS available to all
applicants who know both the cost and value of Christian education.
(Even so, unfunded financial
assistance never goes below half of the published tuition rate, and
families of all income levels are asked to help close the GAP.)
Thank
you for taking the time to read this short history of CCS. Now you know why we share
our need each year and why so many people in our community consider
CCS worthy of their support as this “loaves and fishes” story continues to unfold.
Now you know how such
a relatively small school (currently 243 in Pre-K through 12th
grade) enjoys such a fine campus and building while constantly
“learning to lean” on the Lord each year. It’s because CCS is a
family of believers, educators, and donors who
believe “learning to lean” is the first step in Christian
education. Thank each of you for doing your part.
Four years ago, I was elected Michigan representative for the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). Serving in this capacity is an honor and gives voice to dozens of other ACSI schools in the state. Last month, I was asked to represent CCS and the state of Michigan at a "Legal and Legislative Summit" in Washington DC.
For two days, nearly 100 other ACSI state representatives and heads of schools from coast to coast gathered in a large conference room across the street from the Department of Education Building to be inspired by speakers addressing two topics: religious freedom and parental choice in education. These two topics are central to the parental role of "training up a child in the way he or she should go." (Proverbs 22:6) . :
Speakers included: Senator Ted Cruz, Michael Lindsay, President of Taylor University, and many others. Most notable of all, however, was an address by the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, the Honorable Winsome Sears.
What a great name..."Winsome".... it means to be likably persuasive as we represent the connection between the TRUTH we believe and the common sense of living. As a school, for instance, CCS advocates for religious freedom not because the Bible guaranties it (quite the opposite is seen in the Old and New Testaments). We defend religious freedom because our U.S. Constitution has enshrined it from the beginning. So long as God grants us the freedom to live in this constitutional republic, we will strive to be winsome in defending religious freedom and the role of God-honoring parents in the lives of their children.
After two days of inspiration in DC, it was time for some perspiration as all of the ACSI leaders in attendance walked UP Capital Hill (about five blocks UPHILL from the Department of Education building) to appointments with their congressional leaders.
Most of my time on The Hill was spent in Bill Huizenga's office. It was an honor to be among friends who appreciate schools like CCS. We stressed that parental choice in education will always go hand in hand with religious freedom.
As our nation strays further and further from its founding principles, churches and parents who believe God's Word "is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path" are in a shrinking minority, but even if that is true they are constitutionally protected in this 250-year experiment we call The United States of America.
The handbook and doctrinal statements of every ACSI school in Michigan probably include statements like the following. In many government-controlled schools, these beliefs are being replaced by the indoctrination of special interest groups:
The Bible says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." That notion is mocked as anti-science, but in fact, when science is properly defined the various theories of origins require just as much non-science (i.e. faith) to believe. Even so, for more than a century the flawed "science" of Darwin was taught as fact. In recent years, the battle cry "Follow the science!" has never come with more reasons to doubt the agenda behind those shouting it.
The Bible speaks of one race--the human race--and that no one group of humans matters more than another group. (Romans 10:12) Yet, it was Darwin's now-debunked theory of evolution that gave birth to the worst elements of racism manifested in our times. (As explained here.)
The Bible says, "Male and female He created them," but that self-evident fact is currently being drowned out in the din of "gender fluidity" and a never-ending list of pronouns and "identities."
The Bible says that humans are "image bearers" of God. created to have dominion over the earth. Secular classrooms, however, make no divine distinction between humans and animals (except when, in many cases, animal life is more protected than human life). Read further at Imago Dei.
The Bible says God is the giver and sustainer of life. "For you [God] formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb," but never has the beginning of life and the duty of protecting it been more contested in this nation. The current clamor is only new it its effort to remove parents from having a say in their children's life-changing choices.
The CCS Mission Statement reflects a more Biblical model for education: Partnering with parents to equip students toward personal excellence and the pursuit of God's purpose for their lives. To the surprise of many in government, many of the deeply held religious beliefs outlined above are also shared by parents whose children do not attend faith-based schools. On such matters, we agree that parents have a God-given responsibility to protect the innocence of childhood.
As we approach mid-term elections in a few days,continue to pray for those candidates who are willing to enter the political arena--especially those who understand religious freedom and parental choice in education. May God help us to bewinsome as we take a stand and say NO to politicians and proposals designed to strengthen and lengthen their own control of culture, the government, and the next generation,
Tom Kapanka
[Note: The above post contains many links to support material. Click on gray and tan text for further reading or video samples.
Take
a close look at this picture. Does it look familiar? Some of you may
think that it’s a picture of Kendra Road in Fruitport. The
resemblance is remarkable, but you’ll notice there are actually no
potholes in the picture.
This is Rome’s famous Via
Appia, the
Appian Way.) built in 312 BC. It
stretches
more than 350 miles,
and millions of tourist
to Italy still use it
for hiking, cycling, and horseback riding. It was so well-traveled by
the time of Christ thatmiles
of it already had
grooves worn in the stones from the
cartwheels pounding it
through the centuries. (see photo below)
For
23 years, parents and students driving Kendra Road to school have
felt like ancient travelers on the Appian Way. Thousands of dollars
have been spent on tires, rims, alignments, and other repairs caused
by the patchwork of potholes on the road Calvary calls home. Only
those who travel Kendra daily know that this is not an exaggeration.
This observation is not meant as a complaint to the fine road-workers
of Fruitport Township. The fault is not theirs but rather the road
itself.
You
see, unlike the Appian Way of
ancient Rome, Kendra
Road never had a proper foundation. We’ve learned from locals, that
Kendra Road began as a two track after I-96
went through
in the
1960’s.
Over the years, it evolved into a two-lane dirt road. Eventually it
was frosted with some pavement, but with
the turn of the century came of the school, the mall, Stillwater
Springs, and other developments, and the traffic has exceeded the
pavement’s capacity. So we thank the road workers who have tried
their best to keep up the thousands of potholes through the years,
but we are even more thankful for the following announcement:
We
have been informed that KENDRA ROAD IS GETTING PROPERLY PAVED THIS
SUMMER. That’s right. When we return to classes in the fall, all
parents and drivers will have a smooth road as they approach the
school. Because Kendra is classified as a local road (rather than
“primary”), this work does come at some cost to the school and
Kendra residents. We are launching a summer fundraising drive to
raise $35,000. About half of that amount is the CCS assessment for
the new road.
The remaining needed funds are for some other timely projects. We hope to hire a bonded tree service to clear away most of the highway brush and 20-year growth in front of the school (between Kendra and I-96). We have been given permission to clear back the foliage that blocks the view of CCS along the fence line. Unlike the Kendra pavement, all of the this tree-service cost
falls to the school. But imagine what Calvary will look like in the
fall—a new road and a clear view to the thousands of cars that pass
us every day in the commute on eastbound and westbound I-96.
We
also hope to make about $10,000 worth of inside improvements to the
building that include a new Teacher Break Room (they have not had a
Break Room since 2019. Look for additional information about this
year-end campaign.
In the meantime enjoy this video about the broken
road that has lead us to Calvary all these years. It may be the last time you see Muskegon County's version of the Appian Way.
Tom Kapanka
God Bless The Broken Road That Led Us All To School
Dear CCS Class of 2022, “There’s got to be a morning after…” I hope you all got a good night's sleep last night and woke up (eventually) to enjoy the familiar surroundings of home. Sometimes after big events, the morning after has a sort of empty whisper like when you hold a seashell to your ear. I’m writing you all this collective note on the morning after Senior Trip 2022 because I woke up to a silent house which made me miss you all. I get this feeling every year around graduation, but this year it prompted me to sit down and write you this note.
The first time Mrs. Kapanka and I took a Senior Class to Orlando was 1988. If that sounds like ancient history, I understand, but please know that to us... it does not seem so long ago. (Likewise for Mrs. Price who graduated from high school that same year.) The Class of '88 I'm referring to was from our previous school in Iowa where we served for eighteen years. We still keep in touch with many of those students (who are now in their fifties). That class did something spontaneously on their last night of Senior Trip that you guys also did: they stayed up all night reminiscing.
The ability to reminisce is a gift. Not all “families” do it. Reminiscing is what becomes of conversations stretched through time—long stretches of time. It happens in rare moments when you realize that time does not pass, it gathers; it is not spent but shared, and while it is not healthy to “live in the past” it is very good now and then to take a backward glance. . . just long enough to say “I remember the us that was.” Doing so helps you remember that God began shaping the “you” you’re becoming before you even knew it was happening.
You did something else Wednesday night in that brief snapshot of time (in those hours before we headed for the airport at 3:30AM): you spoke of important things in the present —beliefs, questions, uncertainties, and confidences—things that will set the direction for your futures; things that will be the backdrop of your reminiscing thirty years from now.
How do I know this? Because that Class of ‘88 had a reunion at our former school three weeks ago. (We were not able to attend but saw photos on Facebook.) I’m confident that, Lord willing, your class will do the same in 2052. Hard to imagine, isn't it? Don't let it frighten you. The passing of time with friends and family is a wonderful thing.Watching young people become adults is one of the perks of working for 42 consecutive years in two K-12 schools like Calvary. Just think some of you had Mrs. K in preschool fourteen years ago, and here you are "all grown up" with so much to look forward to.
You asked us Wednesday night who our favorite class was, which is almost as impossible to answer as when parents are asked to disclose their favorite child… My guess is many others from other Senior Trips may be reading this, and they will remember moments unique to their experience. The very thought of them brings a smile the way an old photograph found unexpectedlycan make you laugh in a room by yourself..
I will say this: we can’t imagine having been with a better group than you guys. We love the way you were not a group of smaller groups; we love the way that everyone—no matter how new to the class—was included; we love the way you show patience when it’s needed; we love the thought that you guys will care about each other well beyond next week's ceremony; we love the diversity of the dreams you hold and doubts you share and your apprehension of the fine line between dreams and doubts when you feel alone. We love the unspoken intent to never let any of your friends feel isolated in the years to come. The whole week was fun, but that last night of listening as you guys spoke from your hearts was the most rewarding and memorable event of this trip.
Mrs. K and I have “hugged” forty-one Senior Classes goodbye since our K-12 teaching careers began in 1982. We have bookmarks of recollection that help us remember each class (and individuals in each class). I can assure you of this… we will not forget your class and we will not need a bookmark, because your class is a bookend, holding a long row of senior trips in place. We didn’t speak of it when we were in Orlando, but you guys will always be remembered as our last Senior Trip. Not as a school, but as a trip with the two of us along. Thank you for the many kindnesses you showed when least expected.
The first line of this note is the title of a song from my high school days. I'll close this note with two more from the same era. (If Zander were riding shotgun right now he’d play them for us): The first is a song called “Anticipation” from 1971, which declared “These are the good ol’ days…” and indeed they are. Remember that as you enjoy this summer before turning the page from the CCS years to whatever lies ahead. The other song is a favorite of mine called "Bookends," which is perfect for these thoughts. I used it in this montage to help you remember that life is never lived only in the present… it is a beautiful blend of past and future... reminiscence and anticipation, grandparents and those yet to be born, experience and hope.
Today, we had more than 50 parents and prospective students in our rotunda as visiting students were paired up with someone from the class they were visiting. It was a wonderful sight to see. Most of these inquiring families will also be our guests at this evening's Spring Carnival. We hope you can all make it to that event to meet some of them..
We are living in interesting times, and I'd like to remind all of us why the formative years in your students' lives are so important.
Museum of The Bible, Washington, DC
This past week, I
was at a Biblical Worldview Conference at the Museum
of the Bible in Washington, DC. Scores of other K-12 Christian school
administrators were there from across the country. CCS and these
other schools consider teaching from a Biblical perspective
(worldview) a crucial part of our mission. In all subjects and
circumstances, God's Word is “a lamp to our feet and
a light to our path.”(Ps119:105)Only in that light can we see the answers to the questions of life
that give a meaningful context for all subjects.
Simply put, our
worldview is the lens through which we interpret the past, present, and future of the world in which we live.
II
Timothy 3:13-17
warns believers that the
time
will come when social “norms” and public opinion will go from bad
to worse, and manipulating deceivers will lead many down false
and dangerous
paths.Friends,
we are living in such a time. The
same passage,
however,encourages
us to train up believers from childhood in the TRUTH of God’s
Word and
the
way to wisdom and salvation
in Christ Jesus. The short passage concludes by reminding us that "all scripture is breathed
out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
and for training in righteousness,that the
man of God may be complete, equipped for every good
work.”
At
CCS, the
home and school are
a team working from the same playbook and game-plan. The
many Evangelical churches in our school family
sometimes summarized our shared Biblical worldview in
three words: “Creation...Fall… and
Redemption.
That outline covers origins, including
God’s original relationship
with his creation;
man’s
willful breaking of that
relationship and
the resulting
“brokenness”
of the
world, and
then through Christ, a
restored relationship (and
eventually a “new heaven and earth”). We also pay heed to what Jesus called the two greatest commandments: Love God (vertical relationship) and love your neighbor as yourself (horizontal relationships).(Matthew 22:36-40)
With
those thoughts in mind, read Luke 6:39-40, where
Jesus is
talking about the
influence of teachers over students andasks,
“Can the
blind lead the
blind?” i.e.
Can a personunable
to see God’s role in lifeopen other’s
eyes
to TRUTH?
Can
those
who credit a godless existence to “random
chance” give meaningful answers tothe
questions oflife? How can we know that the same "light" is guiding your student(s) down the same "path"?
Luke 6:40 further
reminds
us that teachers should be worthy of being "looked up to" because in the end their students will become
like them.
In
other words, regardless of the subject, worldviews are “caught” more than “taught,” and education should never be a game of
“blind-man’s-bluff” for
students and “keep-away”for
parents.
When
I was a kid, the nation’s largest bus-line commercials ended with a
jingle:“Go Greyhound, and leave the driving to us.”Sadly, when it comes to what some schools are teaching kids these days, more
and more school boards and government
officials are
telling parents,“Stay home, and leave
the worldview
to us.” In fact, just yesterday, President Biden told a national gathering of top teachers that the students they lead "are not someone else's, they're OUR children.... they’re like yours when they’re in the classroom.”
It
is
one thing for government schools to feign neutrality on religion; it’s another thing for
them to oppose traditional views of the Church and to zealously (religiously?) advance contraryviews to our children on topics like: identity,
life,
purpose,
gender, sex, marriage, family, right and wrong, law enforcement,etc. I have friends and family who have tried to stem the tide of these contrary agendas in their local districts, and I do not doubt that their presence can be used by God if those adults can remain untainted, but when we consider the new social agenda being infused into the curriculum for children, how much tainted water in a well renders it risky to drink?
We often speak of school days as the "formative years." of life, and it is true. Students are like clay in the potter's hands. Jeremiah 18:2-4 paints a beautiful picture of how God transforms "formative years" into a useful life. The K-12 years represent about 15,000 hours on a potter's wheel. Who's doing the forming? What is the intended outcome? Imagine a partnership between the home and school that purposefully integrates learning with life, science with conscience, facts with faith, theory with wonder, and wonder with belief.
Our nation is very divided on some very basic "facts of life." Never have so many been diametrically opposed to keeping God in his rightful place as Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend. In times like these, we are pleased to see more
and more parents choosing to partner
with
schools like CCS that
share their
values
andteach
from a Biblical
worldview.
Frauenthal Center For The Performing Arts is one of our state's most historic theaters. Each year it hosts the “High School Student Showcase” for the sixteen high schools in Muskegon County (and a few more beyond). It takes two nights of performances to get all the talent on and off that beautiful stage. At the end of the second night they announce the winners, including the two most coveted awards. One is for First Place "group" and the other is what they call the “Showstopper.”
CCS has won 1st place on other occasions, 2nd place a few times, but this was the first year we took home both top trophies. (Each year the Student Showcase Program also highlights non-performing categories such as art, athletics, and academics.)
Here is another interesting fact about the CCS students who performed this year, and it has been true of nearly all students who have ever performed in Showcase through the decades: they are also athletes. Claire Swanson plays volleyball and Bradley Richards and Kendon Sutherland and Josiah Jackson play basketball and other sports. Josiah also runs his own piano-tuning business.
CCS is often compared to "The Little Engine That Could" because we often overcome achieve big school results in spite of being one of the smaller accredited K-12 programs in the state. When you are part of a high school that averages from 60 to 70 students, being well-rounded in many different outlets (including the three A: academics, arts, and athletics) is true of most of our students.
Around 12:01 AM, Sunday, March 13, 2020, we will change our clocks to "spring ahead" for daylight-savings time. As we look forward to spring, that day may be a good time to take a backward glance at the past two years...
March 13, is the two-year anniversary of the day we called a special assembly to inform the CCS students that all schools in the state were being ordered to close down for two weeks "to flatten the curve." The term was so new that we showed a video in the chapel to explain the theory behind it. We
will not complain here that the two weeks gradually morphed into two years. Nor will we rehash what the months of
isolation and/or protocols were like. We will pause to remember the loved ones we lost
during these two years, and then we'll thank God we're together again and those two years are behind us.
The following timeline of video links is primarily for the sake of the 50 families who have come to CCS since the year the pandemic nearly closed down our school for good. Had our steadfast families not banded together "come what may" during those trying months...had we not stayed true to our tuition commitments...had we we not encouraged each other during those dark months... it is very likely that there would have been no CCS for us to return to in the fall of 2020. God is good!
So here is our "Thank you" to the families who were here that 2019-2020 school year; here is our "Glad you joined us" to the 50+ families who have joined the CCS family since that year, and here is a "Welcome to Calvary" for the dozens of new families planning to join us in the fall. Please join me in this backward glance lest we forget...
1. I made this short video and sent it to our school family to provide a sense of "calm" on the very sad occasion of walking into an empty school on the Monday after the closure. The stones in the box had been written on by our high school at Retreat to mark the that year's theme: "Never Alone."
2. Below is the first "video update" we sent to our homes during the closure. We had been in distant-learning mode for one week, and the state state had just announced that none of the classwork we had already begun with our high school would count toward graduation requirements. I wanted to make it clear that the news did not apply to Calvary Christian Schools.
3. Eagle's Nest Preschool is an important part of our CCS program. Roughly half of each year's graduating class has been at Calvary since preschool. When schools shut down, figuring out a way to keep the preschool viable was very difficult, but Mrs. K and I began "filming" a little TV show in our basement called "Mrs. K's Cozy Little Cabin," and she kept teaching the regular lessons three times a week. Viewers from well beyond CCS began watching faithfully. I attempted to keep parents engaged by adding little "jokes" that the children could not read.
4. The next video update was to soften the blow of the news that we were all expecting to hear that week: schools would remain closed indefinitely. I came to the empty building to make this video.
5. All of Mrs. Kapanka's "Cozy Little Cabin" shows can be seen at this website. but I wanted to include this one here in which she discreetly teaches 4-year-olds about the letter Q and transitions from Quilt to QUARANTINE, a concept all of us were still struggling with at the time. In hindsight, it would be easy to forget the caution we were all exercising in those first weeks of the shutdown, and Mrs. K thought it was important to include a word that would typically not be introduced to this age group.
.
6. As some folks know from the archives of this "To Begin With" blog, I have dabbled in poetry NOW AND THEN. By April of the closure, cabin fever was beginning to set in. This was not only from the hours we spent in the basement "filming" the preschool show but ALSO from the lost rhythm of days, weekends, Sundays, etc. The evening news was beginning to concerns about mental health and the growing sense that nothing really mattered anymore. What an unthinkable situation for students. These words came to me on April 1, and I wanted to share them with students to remind them that EVERY DAY COUNTS....
7. Before I moved from the classroom to "administration," I used to teach college and high school speech and literature. Back around 1978, I became familiar with the three pieces of literature that I allude to in this "video chat" from my back yard. It was when the reality that we were unlikely to be returning to school began making people wonder what things would look like on the other side of the pandemic.
8. There were many other videos shared in April and May, but we'll close with this one in which I was trying my best to say that someday this will all seem strange. (I did not know at the time that it would be a two year ordeal.).
I have posted these video clips (and those at the underlined links below) for the sake of the more than 50 families who are new to CCS since that spring semester (March-May) of 2020 when most of us were living somewhere between inexplicable caution and growing frustration.
As things turned out, we had a parade on the last day of school and were the first high school in the state of Michigan to have our Commencement Ceremony on the original day it was schedule (albeit outdoors). It was in all the news sources.
The next school year we were back in the building, and even though things were not quite normal, it was wonderful compared to the previous spring. Four new "outdoor education pavilions," made the state-mandated protocols much easier to bear.
Even so, the 2020-2021 school year was a difficult in many ways, which prompted a much needed "day away" at the Muskegon Winter Sports Complex.
By the time 2022 came, we were still reeling from the previous 3 semesters, but in taking this backward glance at the Covid-19 ordeal and protocols that now seem to be behind us, you might be thinking, "My goodness! You guys sure went through a lot just to keep school open and appealing to families." To which I and the teachers would say, "Yep... we sure did. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it!"
